June 5, 2011

“A Good Man Goes to War” Review

In itself, I’d say it was an okay episode. But it had been built up so much and it didn’t carry through, so it was a bit of a let down. I mean, a couple of days before the episode aired there was the clip of River saying, “This is the battle of Demon’s Run, the Doctor’s darkest hour. He’ll rise higher than ever before, and then fall so much further.” The Doctor’s darkest hour? Awesome. That makes you think it’s going to be a mind blowing episode. But, it was just okay. And as to rising higher than ever before, I mean, the Doctor took over a heavily defended base without the loss of blood. For the Doctor, isn’t that just … Wednesday? How is that rising higher than ever before? And as to falling, I mean, the Doctor knows he is the most feared being in the universe, that’s what the Pandorica was all about. So why the big reaction to him being called a weapon?

Also, all this happened too quick. The Doctor falls, and then becomes all giddy when he finds out who River is. It’s like “The Waters of Mars.” The best/worst part of that episode was when the Doctor thinks that since he is the last Time Lord, he no longer has to play by their rules. He saves Adelaide Brooke despite her death being a fixed point in history. He feels he can do anything, the Time Lord victorious (that’s the best clip I could find). I don’t know if you would call that a high point, but new territory at least. Then she commits suicide and he realizes he’s “gone too far.” That is a fantastic rising higher than falling scene, but it’s only like five minutes. And when we next see the doctor, he’s in a lei and locks the TARDIS like a car. I wanted more. Now, if the Doctor really falls while he searches for Madame Kovarian, that will be good. But I’ll have to wait until September to find out.